Discussion

Should there be a cash-only line at the supermarket?

Here's an example of something that drives me nuts: the twit in front of me at the grocery store paid for her purchase - $1.63 in total - with a VISA credit card. So you know the drill: you have to wait before inserting your card into the machine, then you wait before entering your password, then you wait again for it to be processed....

This got me thinking, a cash-only checkout line would be much appreciated. Agreed?

At the grocery stores I shop at, such a line wouldn't have enough business. Most of the people I see, are using debit or credit. I can get through my transaction with a debit card as fast or faster than someone digging through their wallet or pockets for that 2 dimes and a penny to give exact change.

Should there also be a line for people with only scan-able items, no strange produce that the cashier has to look up the price or code for?

As long as there's an express line for when I have 10 or fewer items, and don't get stuck behind people who are laying in supplies for the winter, I don't care how the people in front of me pay for their stuff.

I find cash takes much longer to process, what with the picayune change and counting out each bill. They say the amount, I swipe my card, pick up the pen as it goes through, and initial it. Done. No matter the amount of the bill, even a couple of bucks, that's a lot less motion that counting actual cash. (And I get 5% back at the end of the month on groceries, so win/win.)

Agreed. On some of the newer terminals like at Trader Joes. I can swipe my card before the cashier even finishes scanning my good and I just sign after all the items are scanned. Much faster than using cash.

I get antsy standing behind someone using cash, fishing around for change, smaller bills. There's no password for cc use, only for debits, AFAIK and I've been using credit for every expense for years. The cash line would be the slowest, hands down.

Shame on those folks fishing for bills and coins. If you know you are going to pay with cash, you can get your bills and coins ready even before the clerk has finished ringing your purchases up. You know that you shouldn't need more than $1.00 worth of coins, no matter what the final bill ends up being. So just get out $0.90 or $1.00 in coins, along with some bills, and everything will go faster.

I'm not opposed to folks paying however they choose, I just know it'll be faster when I or someone else swipes a card. Check writers are the slowest. I've never seen anyone ready with their cash before being rung up, that would slow things down because they werent packing their own stuff, something I always do.

There most definitely ARE passwords for credit cards. We have them in Canada; most credit cards here have a chip on them that is inserted into the machine, although they all have the magnetic strip too. I know they are also used in much of Europe.

Indeed, CG, we've had the chipped cards for some considerable years in Europe. A simple matter of inserting the card, entering your four digit password and pressing "enter".

Whenever I visit America and have to sign a credit card slip, it feels like going back in time. Two trips ago, we left a restaurant without paying as we just assumed that one of us had paid, while the other was visiting the toilet, and that the slip of paper was our receipt. Needless to say, the waitress came chasing down the street after us to get a signature.

Yep! We recently went on vacation to Florida, and I couldn't remember the last time I had used the strip on my CC, so I went into my bank to get it checked. Glad I did, because it was busted and I needed a new card to use in the US. Vacation with no VISA would have been a hassle.